Thousands of European women being raped by these savages? LOL! Where the heck did that come from?
Wow, I think we just said goodbye to the Angriest Man in the World. Hope he can find someplace to safely vent that rage.
No kidding!
Oh, it is clear that he will have plenty of stormy places to do so. *
- Funny thing that this retort applies too to his climate change denial.
I’m sorry mr moderator sir, but that was hilarious whether it was ironic or not. Thank you! 
Thanks for that link.
I know this post is a few days old but I am tired of seeing The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus quoted as gospel without any response. This may surprise you, but Emma Lazarus’s poem is not and has never been US law. And the Statue of Liberty, with which it is associated, did not originally have anything to do with immigration.
This may surprise you, but no one has claimed otherwise.
Originally, sure. So what? For over a century, it has served as a spiritual beacon and a symbol of American promise. And, yes, immigration, especially after “The New Colossus” was added to it in 1903. The poem has been taught in schools across the country for a hundred years. The statue has been a symbol of hope and new beginnings for the “tired and poor” for a lot longer than she served solely as a representation of Republicanism.
Fuck’s sake, of course it’s not law. But we as Americans have embraced the sentiment, for better or worse, for a hundred years. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are certainly not law either, but we still hold them to be guiding principles for the nation.
Originally we didn’t even seem to want the thing…it took decades to come up with the money in the US to building the platform. The same goes with the Washington Monument. Thanksgiving wasn’t originally a big deal and it took a dedicated few to make it the national holiday it is today. The same goes for many of the symbols we use today and take for granted.
I’m sorry that Emma’s poem gets you down and all bummed out, but it HAS become one of the symbols in this country, just like the Star Spangled Banner, the Statue of Liberty and even the flag (as well as many other things) have all become symbols…and one TODAY, in the case of both the poem and the Statue are associated with immigration (and for the last century at least). Hell, the US itself, at least in our own mythos, is associated with immigration and taking in immigrants and turning them into Americans…the country itself is a symbol, even if often the symbol falls short of the reality.
I see our new friend has been disappeared, but in response to a couple of folks who mentioned how rigorous the process is for refugees to enter this country, I’ll post this link to a White House infographic, which breaks it all down very well. Apologies if it has already appeared elsewhere.
Shame. More laws oughta be written in iambic pentameter.
Well, proponents of mass immigration are always quoting it as though that settles the debate. But it’s a poem–it can’t be taken literally. Jerry Seinfeld even had a stand-up bit about it, riffing on that phrase “wretched refuse”–do you really want to import “wretched refuse” into your country?
I just learned, via John Derbyshire, of a countervailing poem, “Unguarded Gates” by Thomas Bailey Aldrich. I propose that a plaque with these words be installed at the Statue of Liberty next to those of Emma Lazarus:
O Liberty, white Goddess! is it well
To leave the gates unguarded? On thy breast
Fold Sorrow’s children, soothe the hurts of fate,
Lift the down-trodden, but with hand of steel
Stay those who to thy sacred portals come
To waste the gifts of freedom. Have a care
Lest from thy brow the clustered stars be torn
And trampled in the dust. For so of old
The thronging Goth and Vandal trampled Rome,
And where the temples of the Cæsars stood
The lean wolf unmolested made her lair.
They make pretty good presidents, all things considered. 
Hey, why not just put the Klan motto up there, while you’re at it? It’s actually fairly tame:
Also, the rhyme scheme sucks.
[QUOTE=Arcite]
But it’s a poem–it can’t be taken literally.
[/QUOTE]
And the Star Spangled Banner is just a song. And the Bill of Rights is just a piece of paper. The flag itself is just a piece of cloth.
Good luck with that. It will just magically become part of US culture and a symbol due to your proposal. 
I’m sure that it’s poised to catch on soon though…it’s only been out since 1895. Got to give these things time to become symbols after all…
First you argue that it cannot be taken literally, then you bring up Seinfeld making a joke that relies on taking it literally.
Humans are not garbage. “Wretched refuse” is a metaphor. And yes, I believe my nation of mutts and strivers is better off with them. I get that you disagree.
And, ironically, he’s quoting the poem of a guy who was worried that all those immigrants in the late 19th century would bring the US down and destroy it…just before the US exploded in the 20th century to become the largest and most powerful superpower on the planet.
…yeah! and who amongst us is not a mutt!
From Stripes:
Was there welfare, food stamps, etc. awaiting the Ellis Island era immigrants?